Happy Birthday Me!

38 today. 

That’s how long I’ve lived. And 31 of those years my Mom was beside me until God took her away at age 60 when I was 31 in 2010. Our family is less complete but nevertheless still strongly bonded.

As I celebrate yet another year of getting older (and hopefully wiser) I share with you the blessings of my life:

1. A loving father, I call Daddy, who is always there.

2. My sweet mother, Mommy, gone but never forgotten

3. My sister, Along, my rock and shoulder to cry on.

4.My lil brother, Abang, my constant joy and verbal sparring 

   partner.

5.The entire Ziarah Karyawan Family who gives my dad their 

  endless support, and in turn making me happy to see my dad 

  honoured all the time.

6. My feline family present and those that has crossed over the 

    rainbow bridge.

7.My friends, who stick by me despite the crazies I go through 

    from time to time.

8.A first time budding relationship that is still too early to make 

   anything out of but still brings me a secret joy.

9.My words, without which my life would be that much emptier.

10.My faith in the Almighty, who never steered me strong, and is 

    always looking out for me, and gives me strength to live this life 

    that was given to me.

And on that note, I want to share the well wishes Daddy and Along wrote for me.

What Daddy wrote:

Wishing our dearest beloved Adik Yasleh Hani Wati many happy returns on this auspicious day of her birth. May the year ahead be blissfully sublime, filled with happiness and contenments in health and prosperity. Happy Birthday Adik.

The poem Along wrote:

Happy 38 Birthday Adik
************************

Thirty eight years ago,
you took your time to arrive,
everyone had to reluctantly
do stuff instead of waiting for you
Da had to go be P. Ramlee in KL,
the midwife had to take her leave
because you don't seem to be
in a hurry to be born.

And that was when you decided,
one and a half month overdue,
the tenth anniversary of a historical date,
is a good time to greet the world
with the loudest demand for food.

Adik, you had your own unique way
of arriving to this world,
why are you questioning the unconventional way you're living your life?
Define your life as uniquely as you decided how and when you be born,
Happy 38 birthday Adik!
I love you.

rya
12/5/17
11.06 a.m.